Super Clean Broccoli Salad with Creamy Almond Dressing

Super clean broccoli salad CAN BE A REAL THING. No mayo, no bacon, and no missing flavor because this baby is packed with crunchy-creamy plant goodness! Featuring purple cabbage, broccoli, raisins, almonds, green onions, and a creamy vegan almond-miso-orange dressing.

Guys. It’s me and super clean broccoli salad here, and we are at your summertime service.

Crunchy, healthy, saucy, delicious things ahead.

Before we embrace the healthiness of this updated *super clean* broccoli salad, let’s give a little love to the good old fashioned broccoli salad.

Yes, BROCCOLI SALAD. This is the food of my upbringing. I’m talking about the variety of broccoli salad that is thick with a sweet mayo-based dressing and loaded with plenty of bacon and sunflower seeds and raisins – the one that is so retro and amazing in the way that only a mayo-and-bacon-based salad can be. And in summer? I mean, basically any pot-luck, graduation party, or picnic-esque functions in my beloved small town Minnesota? You know there’s gonnabe broccoli salad out there in the wild, and you know we’re all gonnabe lovin it.

HOW TO MAKE OUR CLEAN BROCCOLI SALAD (50 SEC):

My heart has nothing but love for the original broccoli salad. I’m not looking to replace it.

And to be honest, I’m not even expecting to win over the broccoli-salad-makers of small town Minnesota who kept my mayo salad quota full for most of my childhood. That’s okay. I won’t feel bad. There’s room for old and new at our table.

This can be its own thing, really, can’t it?

It’s a modern twist on the classic old school broccoli salad and it’s super healthy and plant based and colorful and, I mean, I might be a tiny bit biased, but it’s also REALLY DELICIOUS to the point where you are willing to look past the embarrassment of pulling it out of the fridge for a midnight snack in order to taste the creamy, cold, salty-sweet crunch of the broccoli, raisins, and almond orange dressing.

It’s the kind of food that gets me most excited in all the world. ♡ Healthy meets color, texture, flavor, and ease of preparation. Diving in NOW.

The sauce starts with almond butter and miso to give it a heavy, creamy-like texture and weight that will cling to the broccoli and get all up in between those little crunchy ingredients. Then we work that sauce with shallots, canola oil, and Simply Orange Low Acid.

A few reasons we’re loving Simply Orange in general and for this recipe specifically.

This golden nectar of the gods is not sweetened. Just like it sounds – SIMPLY ORANGE.

It’s not from concentrate. It’s not frozen.

Our specific variety of the day – Simply Orange Low Acid – packs less of a bite and keeps things smooth and easy when either drinking it (ugh how good is a morning glass of real orange juice // I LOVE IT) or when using it in a recipe where you don’t want things to be overly punchy. Case in point – our super clean broccoli salad of the moment.

Yaaas just made this and could not find any miso sauce anywhere so substituted it for soy sauce almond butter and pomegrante sauce combo and it’s amazing! This is definitely going into my weekly rotation. Thanks for this recipe!

Will use less orange juice next time though as salad dressing is a bit runny for me!

Great recipe! I too grew up in the north eating this broccoli salad at all family get togethers! Just a suggestion: do some research on canola oil. It is harmful and there are far better oils to suggest such as hemp oil, avocado oil and of course, olive oil. Thanks again! Delicious!

This was interesting. I’m not sure I like the miso in it – I think would prefer just almond butter. I will try that next time. I think I would also like it a little sweeter, so I might add a little apple juice to the mix. I don’t know if it matters whether you use the traditional red miso or the lighter white miso. I might have liked it better if I had used white miso, but the store was out of it at the time I was shopping.

I made this yesterday for a family birthday get-together. My mother-in-law said it was the best broccoli salad she’s ever had, which is high praise since she is an incredible cook! Other people said they liked the “lightness” of it (not weighed down by mayo) and the subtle sweetness from the orange juice. I will be making this again for sure.